Indian companies now hold the largest set of firm green hydrogen supply commitments anywhere in the world. Till October 2026, they had signed binding offtake agreements totalling 5,55,610 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA) of green hydrogen equivalent, according to data released by the Union Government on 29 October 2026.
The pace has quickened sharply this year. Of the 23 offtake contracts signed since the National Green Hydrogen Mission began in 2023, 18 were concluded in 2026 alone, together covering more than 4 lakh MTPA.
Over 70 per cent of the contracted volume is meant for export, and meeting these commitments will require capital investment of around ₹90,000 crore, or roughly USD 9.5 billion.
The figures mark a shift in how India’s clean energy programme is being judged. Production targets and incentive schemes describe ambition. Signed purchase contracts, with named buyers and delivery dates, show that overseas and domestic customers are prepared to pay for Indian molecules.
Why offtake agreements matter
Green hydrogen projects are capital-heavy, and lenders rarely finance a plant until its output has an assured buyer. An offtake agreement is that assurance a long-term contract under which a buyer commits to purchase a fixed quantity over a set number of years.
Around the world, a large share of announced hydrogen projects have stalled for want of such contracts. Against that backdrop, India order book gives its producers something many rivals still lack, which is bankable demand.
The total is expressed in green hydrogen equivalent because most of what India will ship is not hydrogen gas. Hydrogen is difficult and costly to transport over long distances, so producers convert it into green ammonia or green methanol, which can travel in conventional tankers.
Hydrogen makes up nearly 18 per cent of ammonia by weight, which is why individual ammonia contracts can run into lakhs of tonnes while their hydrogen equivalent is far smaller. For methanol, the share is lower still, at about 12.5 per cent.
The 5,55,610 MTPA figure amounts to roughly 11 per cent of the Mission’s production target for 2030.
Japan emerges as the anchor market
Japan, which has built its long-term decarbonisation plan around imported hydrogen and ammonia, accounts for the largest cluster of deals.
ACME Group has signed an agreement to supply 4,88,000 MTPA of green ammonia to IHI Corporation and a separate deal for 1,00,000 MTPA of green methanol to Mitsubishi Gas Chemical.
Larsen & Toubro and the Japanese trading house ITOCHU have set up a special purpose vehicle for the supply of 3,00,000 tonnes a year of green ammonia, with deliveries due to begin in December 2029.
AM Green has signed a binding heads of agreement with JERA, one of Japan’s largest power producers, for the long-term supply of 70,000 MTPA of green ammonia. Ammonia co-firing in thermal power stations is one of the routes Japanese utilities are using to cut emissions from coal based generation and Indian supply now forms part of that plan.
A foothold in Europe regulated market
Europe has set strict rules on what qualifies as renewable hydrogen, and Indian suppliers have cleared that bar. India notified its own Green Hydrogen Standard in August 2023, under which hydrogen counts as green only if emissions stay within 2 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent per kg produced.
The national benchmark gives foreign buyers a clear reference point when they assess Indian supply. AM Green was selected as the sole winner of the Asian lot in the H2Global auction run by Hintco GmbH, the German-backed mechanism for importing clean fuels.
Under the resulting long-term purchase agreement, Hintco will buy Renewable Fuels of Non-Biological Origin (RFNBO) ammonia from AM Green worth at least EUR 585 million over ten years, with first deliveries to Germany expected in 2029.
AM Green has also signed a firm offtake agreement with Uniper, the German energy major, for 2,50,000 MTPA of green ammonia. Jouno Joules has agreed to supply 600 tonnes per day, or about 2,19,000 MTPA, of green ammonia to Select Energy GmbH.
Winning a competitive European tender carries weight beyond its value. It signals that Indian green ammonia can meet the certification and traceability standards of the world’s most demanding regulatory market.
Korea, Sri Lanka and a widening map
Reliance Industries has entered a long-term supply and purchase agreement with Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea, valued at over USD 3 billion. It ranks among the largest green ammonia offtake contracts in the world, with deliveries expected to begin by 2028. South Korea, like Japan is a large energy importer with limited room to expand renewable generation at home, which makes it a natural buyer of Indian green fuels.
Closer home, Agastya is in the process of finalising an offtake arrangement for 2,50,000 MTPA of green methanol to SAR in Sri Lanka. Tt would extend India’s clean fuel trade into its immediate neighbourhood.
The contracts span East Asia, Western Europe and South Asia. That spread reduces dependence on any single buyer or policy regime, a point that matters in a market still being shaped by government subsidies and shifting regulations.
Price as Indian Government decides
The Government has stated that Indian suppliers are offering the world’s most competitive prices for green ammonia and green methanol and that this has strengthened India’s position in European and Japanese markets.
Cost is the deciding factor in this industry. Green hydrogen is made by splitting water with electricity from renewable sources and power accounts for the largest share of its production cost. India’s abundant solar and wind resources, falling renewable tariffs and policy support for electrolyser manufacturing have together given its producers an advantage over competitors in regions with costlier power.
A lower delivered price also helps Indian suppliers win subsidy-backed tenders such as H2Global, where bids are judged largely on cost.
The uses for Indian green molecules are expanding. Green ammonia and green methanol are emerging as clean bunkering fuels for global shipping, a sector under growing pressure after the International Maritime Organization set a goal of net-zero emissions from shipping by or around 2050.
Ammonia co-firing is being adopted in thermal power plants. Across the world, green hydrogen derivatives are also finding a place in fertiliser production and petroleum refining, two of the hardest industries to decarbonise.
Domestic demand takes shape
The export story has a domestic counterpart. Under the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) programme, agreements have been signed for the production and supply of 6,70,000 MTPA of green ammonia to 11 fertiliser units across the country. Green ammonia can directly replace ammonia made from natural gas, a large part of which India imports as LNG.
Under the same programme, projects have been awarded for the supply of 30,000 MTPA of green hydrogen to refineries operated by Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Numaligarh Refinery.
For a country that imports large quantities of fertiliser inputs and crude oil, moving these industries to domestically produced green feedstock serves both climate goals and the larger aim of Aatmanirbharta in energy.
The Mission behind the momentum
The Union Cabinet approved the National Green Hydrogen Mission on 4 January 2023 with an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore up to 2029-30. Of this, ₹17,490 crore was earmarked for the SIGHT programme, which supports both electrolyser manufacturing and green hydrogen production.
The remainder covers pilot projects, research and development, and other components. Under SIGHT, incentives have been awarded to 15 companies for 3,000 MW a year of electrolyser manufacturing capacity and production incentives now cover around 8.62 lakh tonnes a year of green hydrogen.
The Mission aims to build at least 5 million metric tonnes a year of green hydrogen production capacity by 2030. Its expected outcomes include 125 GW of additional renewable energy capacity, total investment of more than ₹8 lakh crore, over 6 lakh full-time jobs and the avoidance of about 50 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
The Government has also projected a cumulative reduction of over Rs 1 lakh crore in fossil fuel imports by 2030.
The order book is a strong start, but most deliveries are scheduled to begin between 2028 and 2030. The task now is execution: building renewable capacity at scale, commissioning electrolysers and creating the port and storage infrastructure needed to load ammonia and methanol onto ships bound for Japan, Korea and Europe.
Official data put commissioned production capacity at around 8,000 tonnes a year in early 2026, a reminder of how much building lies ahead.
The commitments signed so far also leave considerable headroom. At about 11 per cent of the 2030 target, they suggest that the bulk of the Mission’s ambition is still to be contracted.
What has changed is the nature of the conversation. India entered the hydrogen economy as a country with targets. It now enters 2027 as one with customers, contracts and a price advantage that buyers on three continents have chosen to lock in.
